Hi Families, My sincere apologies for letting time get the bet of me and not updating you on your child's learning! Here we are mid-February, and there has been so much fun occurring in our classroom and school. At the beginning of the month, our school celebrated the Superbowl and boy did 2nd grade have a ball preparing for the big game! Look below for some awesome pictures! Just before we transitioned to February, our class participated in an Artist in Residence with Mr. Rich! It was a totally awesome experience and the kids learned so much. Students learned about rhythm and practiced their individual creativity. Many of you came to our final presentation for parents. Incase you missed it, below are some photos :) 2nd Grade Academic Update: Literacy: Throughout this month, your second grader has been working hard on applying previous spelling concepts and vowel teams to both their reading and writing. The following have been taught and we are working on reinforcing: -2nd grade trick words (being able to spell, write and recognize automatically) -Closed V-E Pairs such as duck/duke, luck, Luke, sham/shame -Glued Sounds such as: all, am, an, ang, ing, ong, ung, ank, ink, onk, unk, ild, ind, old, olt, ost, ive -Z Between 2 Vowels -Suffixes -Prefixes -Reading multisyllabic words -Syllable division -Words with -ic such as: static, sonic, clinic, panic etc. -Reading Words ending with ed --> making 3 sounds /d/, /t/, /id/ -Reading Words with s, es, ing, er and est Math: Over the last month in math, our class has wrapped up unit 3 and is just about to finish unit 4 as well. Throughout unit 3, your child learned a variety of addition and subtraction strategies to use when solving word problems, reinforced their fact family skills, used doubles facts and doubles plus/minus 1 facts to answer math equations. All students completed an end of unit test at the very beginning of February. If your child struggled with some of these math concepts, he/she is being pulled to have reinforcement of these skills in RTI on Tuesdays from 2:45-3:30 PM. In our most recent math unit (Unit 4: Place Value and Measurement), students have been exposed to telling time (to the nearest 5 min, 15 minutes and half hour), knowing the difference between AM and PM, numeration, place value and exposure to base ten blocks. Students have done a great job being able to represent a number with base ten blocks, exchanging base ten blocks and writing a number when given base ten blocks on a page. With just a few days before February Break, our class (pending we have most students back...we had 8 students out today! YIKES) will be working on measurement. Our class is going to be measuring objects to the nearest foot, inch and centimeter. Students will be measuring various paths that are jagged to add some difficulty. Science: Lately, our class has been patiently waiting for Dr. Froleiks to fly to America and complete our next two experiments. At the start of February, (thanks to many donations from parents in our class) we worked on "melting snowmen". Below are some photos: Here is a friendly reminder that online book orders are due no later than Friday, January 18th, 2019 at 10 AM. I will be submitting the class order at lunchtime (12:25 PM).
If you have any issues, do not hesitate to reach out :) Do not forget to use our class code so we can get more books for the room! Hi Families, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are staying warm! The Patriots just gathered another win and Miss F couldn't be more excited! This past week endured lots of patience and quiet independent work time since assessments occurred. Thus far, students completed their writing and both math mid year assessments. During this upcoming week, your son/daughter will be working on a reading assessment called DRA's. Please make sure he/she is well rested, hydrated and fueled with healthy food :) Literacy: Although most of our day is consumed by administering assessments, we have been able to move forward with our literacy unit. Students practiced applying OA, both OW sounds and OE. Your child's Word Study list has been appropriately differentiated. Although I do not administer spelling tests in the classroom, these words could be practiced at home for reinforcement. Students also practiced the 3 sounds of /ed/. They are becoming familiar with identifying a root word and testing out the 3 sounds of /ed/ in order to read an unfamiliar word. The 3 sounds of /ed/ are--> /t/, /d/, /id/ Writing: After mid year assessments wrap up, our class will be diving into strengthening our narrative writing! More to come soon!! Math: Currently, we are working on strategies to help with solving subtraction problems in the classroom. From counting backwards, using doubles facts and "finding ten", all of these strategies the students will be exposed to this upcoming week. Our end of unit "check-in" is tentatively 1/23/19. Students have also been logging into their XtraMath accounts to complete a round of math. Please try to have your son/daughter log on once a night at home as well. Automatic fact fluency is very important in 2nd grade. Social Studies: Towards mid-week, our class will be investigating historical figures. Similar to our previous weather research project, students will begin to pick an historical figure that they find interesting and research about him/her. **MORE TO COME** Science: This week, Dr. Froleiks took time to "fly" overseas and administer an experiment with the kiddos. The children worked on creating hypothesis', listing the steps of the experiment and drawing out the reaction in class. The experiment was conducted on Friday (instead of the typical Thursday due to scheduling conflicts). The experiment was called DANCING CORN and the students certainly saw some dancing (or bobbing as some children described it) in this experiment. ** Pictures below** ***Please also be on a look out for a Sign-Up Genius to help Dr. Froleiks gather materials for the next few experiments in the classroom. Dr. Froleiks always appreciates your helping hands!! *** Here it is! CLICK HERE SNOW GEAR
Please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for outdoor recess! Per hour school handbook, students go outside for recess as long as the "feel" is 20 degrees or higher. On Thursday is was very cold, however it was 21 degrees. Some students unfortunately did not have warm footwear or winter accessories such as a hat or gloves to keep them toasty. I strongly advice that you send in snow gear in a reusable bag so that it stays all together. Below are the items that are REQUIRED in order to play inside the fenced in area with snow on the ground: -Snow-pants -Warm jacket -Winter boots (dressy "knee high" boots for girls DO NOT count as boots to play in the snow with) -Hats/earmuffs -Mittens/gloves Optional--> scarf, neck-warmer etc. Student must ALSO have a change of indoor shoes with them as well!! Happy New Year! Our classroom got off to a GREAT start in our first three days back to school! Students remembered class and school rules, routines and were eager to hear about everyones time off. Miss F loved hearing stories from each child and greatly appreciated all of the thoughtful cards and gifts given from before break. Literacy: In literacy, we wrapped up the last two days from Unit 4 Week 1 (from before break). We had learned about inflected endings (ing, es, s, est, ed, er etc.) and reviewed them during these 3 days back at school. As you might have scene in your child's orange take home folder, word study lists will be coming home. These words are NOT for a spelling test. However, these words your child will be seeing all throughout the week in reading group. All words on the word list sheet will have the specific literacy skill we are learning about that week. In addition, 2nd grade trick words (sight words) are fully up and running. The children have different opportunities to utilize them in the classroom. By second grade, it is important that students don't just identify/recognize them, but also spell them correctly. This is for all sight words from Kindergarten and first grade as well. Handwriting: The children got back into their writing routines with brainstorming topics and practicing proper handwriting formation. Students with sloppy handwriting or incorrect letter formation are asked to re-do their work with help and guidance from the teacher. Math: In math, we continued to learn about math strategies to help in solving problems. Last weeks strategies were called : -Subtraction from Addition -Counting Up or Backwards Everyday Math teaches the children that there is more than one way to solve a problem and students should apply the strategy that works best for them. In the classroom, students have a few opportunities a week to work on XtraMath. Students should be using this resource at home as much as possible. As a class, we are collectively practicing our doubles fact, double plus 1/2 and near doubles facts in class. Please continue to do so at home. On Friday, students were able to learn a small group game called "Salute". This game helps students practice their math facts in a fun way :) Science: Since everyone was present, we were finally able to share each groups science research projects from our weather unit (you will see pictures below). Students at the beginning of December voted on which severe type of weather they would like to learn more about. Small researched groups were formed and children worked with Ms. Fitzgerald (the computer teacher) to learn how to research safely on the computer. ** This week we will begin to learn about famous historical figures for a Social Studies Unit. Buddy Reading: Students enjoyed buddy reading with Mrs. Doyon's 8th grade students. Micro:
Everyone has been excited to return to their venture or agency businesses. We resumed marketplace on Thursday (instead of Wednesday) just to make sure everyone was ready. The 2nd graders have been learning how to go to the bank to cash/deposit checks into their accounts (this is new for them) as well as write a check from their checkbook (for taxes). November Book Orders are due no later than NEXT Tuesday November 20th, 2018.
Scholastic book orders are PHENOMENAL gifts for your child to help promote reading at home. If you order them by next Tuesday, they will be delivered in time before our holiday break! YAHOOO! All orders will be wrapped up secretly or can be picked up via the office IF you reach out to me via email! **No worries if you have already thrown out the paper book order, you can just go online and enter our class code!! Our class code is: Q2PHY Hello Families, Here we are in November! October flew by and I barely had time to update you all on our learning in the classroom. From Mad Science experiments, our MACS Walk-a-than, a Bike Safety presentation to the excitement of the Micro City Job Fair, we have been very busy! In addition, we just wrapped up an amazing two week music exploration with Mr. Randy Armstrong (our first artist in residence). Please look to your right to see an updated classroom wishlist! Remember, each item donated to the classroom can help YOU get volunteer hours (which are required, unless you chose to buy-out) ----> Students have wrapped up there first units in both Everyday Math and Fundations Literacy programs. In 2nd grade, students take end of unit assessments (Miss F likes to call them "check-ins") and all students did a great job! The children learned how to explain their answers in words and in pictorial form. Much of their learning in both literacy and math has been review from first grade material. We are now moving on to new material such as doubles facts plus or minus 1, 2 or 3 as well as word problem strategies and explaining your answers! In literacy, we wrapped up our first novel study with Mr. Popper's Penguins and went on to reading Stuart Little. The children are excited to make daily comparisons of Stuart Little to the movie many of them have previous seen. We are working on strengthening our writing by adding describing words and using a variety of sentences that start in unique ways. We reviewed digraphs as well as short and long vowels with magic e. In science, your child is learning about weather. We have been recording data on types of weather as well as temperature. Then we have been graphing it (using bar graphs). We make comparisons and predict future weather based on patterns. In addition, we have been doing our bi-weekly Mad Science experiments. Our next one is coming up on 11/15! We have been talking about chemical reactions with our lemon experiment as well as the scientific process. Nightly Homework:
Please have your child read 20 minutes a night! In addition, have your son/daughter practice addition and math facts equalling up to 25. They should be using doubles plus 1 or 2 strategies as well as "finding ten" to help them. Coming Up: -Unpaid training by their venture (business) for the month of November -Round 2 of RTI --> your child will work on improving a new skill! -Veteran's Day Assembly (11/13/18) -Buddy Reading 11/14/18 -Early Dismissal on 11/20 at 12PM -Thanksgiving Break 11/21-11/25 -Buddy Reading 11/28/18 -Parent Night Out 11/30/18 Happy Columbus Day! I hope you are all enjoying this three day weekend with your family. Miss Froleiks got some time to see friends and paint pumpkins this weekend! Of course I painted DORY! This week was very busy in our 2nd grade classroom. We finished up beginning of the year assessments, had two different Town Hall Meetings (aka an assembly) and finally had our school wide walk-a-thon! Throughout the week, the children continued to work on: Literacy: -Reviewing their 1st grade sight words -Complete a variety of tasks through our literacy wheel (such as comprehension tasks, reading words with blends & digraphs and also identifying long and short vowels) -Worked on typing with two hands on the computer -Writing about things he/she is scared of Math: -Skip counting patterns (2's, 3's, 5's, 10's, 25's etc.) -Coin identification & Finding Equivalent Coins -Number Line Puzzles -Understanding Place Value -Working on mental math problems -Writing their own word problems with a diagram and number sentence Below are some pictures of students working hard during our literacy wheel block! You will see a variety of activities that allow children to utilize technology as well as work in partners, small groups or by themselves. Buddy Reading: This week, we officially started meeting up with our 8th grade buddies! Your child will not only have the ability to listen to an 8th grader read to them (and vise versa) but also work on projects throughout the year together. Mrs. Doyon and I have great ideas for these two grade levels to accomplish this school year. On Monday's Town Hall Meeting, the newly elected Micro City government officials were sworn in by the previous Micro City president. Congratulations to everyone who voted in the 2018-2019 school election. Our Class representative: Liam T. K-2 Senator: Athena D. Reminders:
1. Parent Teacher Conference's are on November 6th! Please click on the following link for sign ups CLICK HERE 2. If you signed up to bring in an item for our next 2 MAD SCIENCE experiments, please be sure to send them in NO LATER than Wednesday October 10th! CLICK HERE Hi Families, I hope you are enjoying this lovely Autumn weather we had this weekend! Miss Froleiks has been busy this whole weekend putting together fun lessons and activities for the children to accomplish this month. We are officially wrapping up assessments for our baseline beginning of the school year data. Much of this information will be shared with you at parent teacher conferences as well as some updated data information. **Reminder, parent teacher conferneces are on November 6th, 2018** Here is the Parent Teacher Conference Sign Up Genius --> CLICK HERE Over the last few weeks of school, your child has been working on completing a variety of assessments (AimsWeb, Writing assessments & Developmental Reading Assessment:DRA) in class with their teacher. All of this information is important because it helps show me what areas need to be reviewed in class. While individual assessments take place, your son or daughter has been reviewing a variety of skills in math and literacy. Activities such as identifying nouns, adjectives, place value or coins are among the skills being reviewed at this time. This year in science, your child will have the fantastic opportunity to complete some MAD SCIENCE hands on activities with Doctor Froleiks (Miss Froleiks' twin sister from Sweden). These particular experiments happen twice a month on a Thursday. Octobers MAD SCIENCE experiments will happen on the 11th and 25th. In order to help Dr. Froleiks (aka Miss F's alter ego) afford all the supplies for the experiments, there will be a monthly sign up for ingredients/ supplies. Donations are greatly appreciated! Whenever the sign up genius gets emailed out, please send in the item(s) ASAP. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out ([email protected]). Miss Froleiks wants your son/daughter to reach their full potential with written expression this year. We have a designated 30 minute time slot for working on handwriting, story writing and typing. So far this year, your child has written about Autumn and on Friday, typed their work on a chromebook. Your child will have many other opportunities like this throughout the year. Below are some pictures from the students working on publishing these pieces. In addition to using chromebooks for writing, the children have daily opportunities to practice signing in and using chromebooks to reinforce math and literacy skills. Depending on what your child's literacy group lands on via the literacy wheel, they can use the following academic sites: 1. Lexia 2. ABC YA (blue math games or orange literacy games) 3. XtraMath 4. TypetoLearn 5. Khan Academy 6. Zearn Here are some photos of students practicing signing in and using the academic games. MACS WALK-A-THON will be on Tuesday October 2nd, 2018. -Please send your child to school with appropriate clothing and sneakers!! -We will be outside for 1.5-2 hrs in Mines Falls. Hello Second Grade Families!
I throughly enjoyed seeing all of my returning students and meeting my new ones too! Our first week of school was filled with learning about our second grade daily routine, learning how to function as a classroom family and so much more! Second grade allows for more independence, higher expectations and challenging curriculum to learn. I am excited to be at a new grade level and learn alongside your child this year. At the beginning of the school year, we practices lots of routines! This past week, we learned and practiced how to walk in the hall, how to respectfully eat in the lunch room, how to exit for a fire drill and most importantly, how to act respectful and responsible for Miss Froleiks and all other specialists (gym, computer lab, guidance health etc). Please note our NEW specials schedule for the school year: Monday: Guidance with Mrs. Dagianis Tuesday: Gym with Ms. B **Please send your child to school with sneakers** Wednesday: Computer Lab with Miss Fitzgerald Thursday: Art with Miss McMillan Friday: Gym AGAIN with Ms. B **Please send your child to school with sneakers** Throughout the school year, Mrs Bottomley (our school Director) has planned to have various artist in residence come in to teach about various music related topics. Snack & Lunch in Second Grade: Your child has the opportunity to eat a morning snack during their literacy block. Please know that all "supplies" (spoons, forks etc.) need to be supplied by you at home. Several students had a difficult time eating yogurt or applesauce in the classroom due to no utensil provided. Students this week were also reminded what types of snacks they should be eating for the morning time (things such as fruits, yogurts & veggies). As a whole class we discussed how healthy foods power our brain and body in the morning so please be aware of this as well. Our lunch time is 12:25-12:55PM. We are the last lunch at MACS and the second grade students are the oldest ones in the lunch room. I have spoken with them about this and how to be a helper for the Kinder and first grade students as well as be a role model to them as well. Again, no utensils are supplied by MACS, so please be sure to pack your child the appropriate utensils for their lunch. Communication with Miss Froleiks: I try my best to check my email multiple times a day. However, until our class gets into a groove being more independent in class, I have 2 main times I check my email. First thing in the morning (7:45-8:30) and during my lunch break (12:25-12:55). I work hard to reply to all emails within 24 hours of receiving them and I do not reply to emails over the weekend or over school breaks/holidays. I put out whole class emails weekly to help remind parents of events. In addition, I work on updating this class website with our weekly "happenings". Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns you may have about your son/daughter in my classroom. Coming Up: Starting this coming week, your child will be assessed in several different areas to see what curriculum material they have retained over the summer months and previous school years. These assessments will occur from Monday September 10th until Friday, September 28th. Please send your child to school well rested and fed so they can show what they know with Miss Froleiks!! Hello Second Grade Families! We have 44 more days until of summer vacation comes to an end and your child's second grade year begins! Miss Froleiks has been very busy thinking of new and exciting ways to out together our classroom. Miss Froleiks' classroom theme is: Finding Dory! You will see many new additions to the classroom such as updated crate seats and centers! Miss Froleiks has been having fun in the sun with friends and family this summer! I have been down to the beach on Cape Cod and was lucky to attend a few different conferences in July. I am in full swing of planning my wedding and finalizing details. Enjoy the remainder of your summer and remember to have your child read 20 minutes a night and practice math facts!! |
Classroom Wishlist
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